French buccaneer, born in Paris in 1663. He was of good family, and at the age of fourteen entered on a military career. In 1679 he went to Santo Domingo in quest of adventure, and joined the buccaneers under the Dutch corsair, Cornelius Laurent. In the following year he formed a band of his own to act against the Spaniards, and pillaged the town of Realejo, in Guatemala. In 1686 his band set fire to Grenada, and later took part in the capture of Guayaquil. Afterward his band of about three hundred men captured Tehuantepec. At Nueva Segovia, his men, having made a journey overland, were surrounded and hemmed in by the Spaniards, but, favored by fog, found their way to the rear of the intrenched Spaniards and put them to flight. This retreat of a handful of men over one thousand miles of wild country, and through dangers innumerable, is considered one of the most marvelous feats of that time. After much suffering and frequent hazards, Lussan reached France and published his Journal du Voyage fait à la Mer du Sud avec les Flibustiers de l’ Amérique (Paris, 1688). It was dedicated to the Minister of the Navy, and by him and the nation at large was well received.
